Bruins bring back question

After winning in 2011, Bruins coach Claude Julien had the first question for me: "Did you think we were a championship team?" Julien and his team are asking that question again.

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Posted Jun. 9, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jun 9, 2013 at 6:54 AM

Posted Jun. 9, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jun 9, 2013 at 6:54 AM

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On June 15, 2011, I found myself on the Rogers Arena ice in Vancouver, alone for a minute with Claude Julien.

Close to a half hour had passed since the Boston Bruins had won the Stanley Cup for the first time in 39 years, and the coach had just finished doing a television interview when I happened to arrive. I extended my hand in congratulations, on behalf of everyone I know in the trenches of my hockey world.

I'm supposed to be the one doing the interview, but Julien had the first question for me: "Did you think we were a championship team?"

Julien and his team are asking that question again.

Non-believers blamed great goaltending for 2011 and they can blame it again now. From Tim Thomas to Tuukka Rask, they'll be half right because, as Julien said after his team completed a four-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night at TD Garden, "right now (Rask is) in a zone that you hope he can hold onto. Without that kind of goaltending, you don't get a chance at winning a Cup."

Rask has been outstanding, and the Bruins are fortunate to have had two different goalies within a three-year period put them in a position to play for the Stanley Cup.

But Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma, even in the hour following his team's stunning exit on Friday night, went beyond Rask when discussing the games. He praised his own goalie, Tomas Vokoun, as well.

"Game 3 was as hard-fought and competitive for territory and turf as any game I've been a part of. (Game 4) was much like that," said Bylsma. "Our guys left it all out there. Our guys played extremely hard."

It didn't seem possible that the Bruins would stop Pittsburgh on Friday night, but when a sprawled Zdeno Chara swung his left arm around and batted away Malkin's shot at an open net, this playoff run added to the signature moment of Gregory Campbell breaking his leg to block a Malkin shot in Game 3.

The 2011 run to the Cup was similarly stockpiled with moments and memories, like Michael Ryder's glove save on Tomas Plekanec with Thomas caught out of his net. Or Nathan Horton's overtime heroics against Montreal, his clinching goal against Tampa Bay that sent Boston to the finals, getting knocked unconscious by Canucks defenseman Aaron Rome and, finally, pouring melted ice from TD Garden onto the Rogers Arena playing surface before Game 7.

There was outcry for change when Boston lost to Washington in the opening round last year and especially once Thomas announced he would sit out 2012-13, but general manager Peter Chiarelli resisted any temptation to break up his band of adventurous brothers.

"There's a fine line between unfettered loyalty to the players and building a good team. That's my job to find that line. I'll continue to try and do it," said Chiarelli on Saturday. "This team has showed a lot of character through this playoff run "» I don't know what the returning number of players were — 13, 14, 15 — something like that from the last time. We'll try and do it again, if I can."

Actually, it is 17 counting Campbell, who will watch the rest of the playoffs from the press box just as Horton did in 2011. But, even from the sidelines, Horton found his way back into the Bruins' familiar story of a different hero in every series and on every night.

This year will be remembered for the Bruins' comeback from a 4-1 deficit halfway through the third period of Game 7 to shock Toronto.

They've never looked back.

In the second round, Dennis Seidenberg's injury opened the door for Torey Krug to jump in and make Henrik Lundqvist look like just another decent goaltender.

And now this: a four-game sweep of the Penguins.

"You can tell in the way we've been playing since that game (against Toronto) that we were able to create some momentum, and it carried on into the New York series and it carried onto this series," said Milan Lucic. "I think once we won that game, we definitely started to believe in what we could accomplish. And here we are."

This Bruins team has another chance at winning the Cup. Whether they do it, of course, won't be determined for another couple of weeks. But their resiliency begs Julien's question: "Do you think this is a championship team?"

Mick Colageo covers hockey for The Standard-Times. Contact him at mcolageo@s-t.com and visit Rink Rap at blogs.southcoasttoday.com/bruins